Dry Baby Bums asks the community to Jump for Diapers

Since May, Dry Baby Bums, a local nonprofit organization that collects unused, disposable diapers and donates them to local homeless shelters and food banks, has collected more than 15,000 disposable diapers for the Christian Center of Park City.

The Christian Center in turn, hands the diapers out to less-fortunate families in Summit and Wasatch Counties.

Of the 15,000 diapers, not one remains, said Shannon Buist, founder and executive director of Dry Baby Bums.

In October alone, Buist donated 4,000 diapers to the Christian Center and within four weeks, they were gone.

"They have handed all of them out to the families that need them," Buist told The Park Record. "I can’t seem to keep up with the demand there."

So Dry Baby Bums will host an event called Jump for Diapers at Black Diamond Gymnastics, 6400 S.R. 224, at Kimball Junction, on Saturday, Dec. 13, from 2 p.m. until 4 p.m.

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The event will feature free use of the trampolines and foam pit and photos with Santa Claus.

Admission is a stack or box of unused diapers.

"As long as they are clean and disposable, we will accept them," Buist said. "I will also have my iPad on hand so people can order diapers, and those who order diapers at the door will also be admitted into the event."

All the diapers will be donated to the Christian Center.

"The Christian Center has been good at updating me about the need for diapers," Buist said. "Women have gone in and dropped to their knees, crying, when they find that there are diapers available for them."

A few weeks ago, the demand was so desperate that some women fought over a box of Depends.

"They wanted to cut up strips of Depends to use them as diapers," Buist said. "This is something people need to know about. Babies are reliant on adults to take care of them and these less-fortunate families need the help of the community."

The reason Dry Baby Bums is asking for disposable diapers is for logistical reasons.

"One reason is that daycare facilities won’t accept kids who wear cloth diapers," Buist explained. "Another is that laundromats won’t allow families to wash cloth diapers, and many of these families don’t have their own washers and dryers."

The third reason is the children themselves.

"Most of these infants and toddlers are spending all day in a dirty diaper and that’s terrible and unhealthy," Buist said. "That’s why we are doing the diaper drive."

Buist founded Dry Baby Bums a year ago after a donation visit to the YWCA in Salt Lake City.

"I took some of my old baby items down and asked them if there were other things that they needed," she said. "They told me that they desperately needed diapers."

After extensive research, Buist found that one of the biggest needs in homeless shelters is diapers.

"The problem is no one really knows about that," she said. "They don’t know that families can’t buy diapers through many service programs such as WIC (Women Infant and Children) and they can’t buy diapers with food stamps, although people can buy cigarettes, alcohol and pet food with food stamps."

Another thing Buist found during her research is that one of every three families in the United States struggles to afford diapers.

"This is a sad problem," she said. "We’re hoping Jump for Diapers will help the Christian Center stockpile some diapers for families during the winter."

People who would like to donate, but can’t make it to Jump for Diapers, can still donate by visiting http://www.drybabybums.org , Buist said.

"There is a blue button that people can click on to purchase diapers," she said.

Dry Baby Bums, a nonprofit organization that provides disposable diapers to the Christian Center of Park City, will host a diaper drive at Black Diamond Gymnastics, on Saturday, Dec. 13, from 2 p.m. until 4 p.m. The event will feature Santa and a photographer. Admission is a box of diapers. For more information, visit http://www.drybabybums.org.